Board Treasurer

Trudy Forsyth is the managing director of Wind Advisors Team, a virtual consulting company that specializes in distributed and small wind standards, technology, global markets and policies. Trudy has worked in the wind technology field since 1994 and was the program leader of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory’s (NREL’s) distributed wind turbine program, including small and medium wind turbines. Since 1995 she coordinated efforts between the NREL/National Wind Technology Center technical staff and U.S. manufacturers for designing and testing new small wind turbines, accredited testing of commercial small wind turbines, and publishing turbine field performance and test reports. She developed near-term and mid-term industry strategies on behalf of the U.S. Department of Energy, the small wind industry, and a wide variety of stakeholders, including developing international and national turbine certification and labeling strategies.

Trudy co-led the development of the second and third revisions of the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) Small Wind Turbine Design standard (61400-2) and the International Energy Agency Recommended Practice on Consumer Labeling of Small Wind Turbines. She has authored and co-authored technical conference papers on small wind turbines on topics including design features, economics, and commonalities in the U.S. marketplace between photovoltaics and small wind. Trudy currently serves as board president for the Small Wind Certification Council and is a board member of the Distributed Wind Energy Association. Some of her unique outreach activities include her inclusion in a national Girl Scouts Cadettes journey handbook, her hosting of a NASA SCI Files wind energy segment, and her North American Farm Broadcasters interviews for rural radio.

Trudy has received recognition for her leadership in distributed wind and her community contributions, including the NREL Outstanding Community/Professional Staff Award (2003), an International Renewable Energy Council Special Recognition Award (2005) and a Green Energy Economy Top 10 Women in Wind and Solar (2010), as well as a 1906 award from the IEC, and was recognized as the American Solar Energy Society’s 2012 Woman in Solar Energy. She holds a B.S. and M.S. in mechanical engineering from the University of Colorado-Denver.

Board President

A co-founder of BWC and president since 1987, Mike Bergey is a mechanical engineer and an internationally recognized expert in the field of small wind turbines, distributed generation, and rural electrification. He has authored more than 70 technical papers and articles in the field, provided testimony to Congress, and serves as a consultant to numerous government and international agencies. He holds one patent in the wind energy field.

He has twice served as president of the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) and served on the AWEA Board of Directors from 1981 to 2007. He is a past chairman of the U.S. Export Council for Renewable Energy, member of the U.S. Department of Commerce “Environmental Technology Trade Advisory Committee”, and a past president of the Oklahoma Renewable Energy Council.

Mr. Bergey is the acting president of the newly formed national trade association, the Distributed Wind Energy Association.

He chaired the AWEA Small Wind Turbine Committee for over 20 years and authored the 2002 AWEA “U.S. Small Wind Turbine Industry Roadmap: A 20-year Industry Plan for Small Wind Technology”. He chairs the AWEA Small Wind Turbine Certification Committee, which drafted the AWEA 9.1-2009 certification standard has been adopted in the U.K. (as a BWEA standard). U.S. and Canadian adoption is pending. Mr. Bergey initiated the formation of and serves on the board of the Small Wind Certification Council (SWCC).

In 1981 he was recognized by AWEA for the development of the “For Leadership in the Development of a National Performance Standard for Small Wind Turbines”, which was the basis for the IEC 61400-12 performance testing standard. In 1994 he was recognized as AWEA’s “Wind Industry Man of the Year”

In 2003 Mr. Bergey served on Oklahoma Governor Henry’s EDGE Committee, which prepared a strategic plan for economic development in Oklahoma. He then served two terms on the Governor’s Council for Workforce and Economic Development. Mr. Bergey was Workforce Oklahoma’s “Cleveland County Businessman of the Year” in 2005. He was president of the Norman Chamber of Commerce in 2008 and served on the Chamber Board from 2003-2010.